Best Friends, No Exceptions

Heyo. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been going through some personal stuff, so yeah.

This is a short story I wrote for my English class a while ago, I had to write a story using three dystopian conventions, maybe you'd like to try spotting them?

DISCLAIMER: I am aware that it turned out to be a little like the Hunger Games, but I assure you, I am NOT trying to copy it. As much as I love the seires I feel like I would ruin it if I remade it XD.

Ok now read




“This is the start, of how it all ends, they used to shout my name, now they whisper it, I’m speedin' up, and this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat sparkin'-” The music drowns out as my phone rings. I pick up. “Hello?”
“Hi Casey, are you coming home soon?”
I don’t want to go home. The world out there isn’t very friendly. “I might stay out a bit longer”
“Are you sure? You know you have to be back by seven.” Yeah, I do. I can’t bear to think about what happens if I’m not. “Yeah, I will be”
“Ok sweetie, love you”
“Love you too Mum”
I hear the beeping tones indicating that my mother has hung up. She and I say “I love you” to each other as often as we can, because each time could be the last. I stay in the comforts of my secret place a bit longer, as I said I would. The green willow leaves surrounding me are darkening as the sun goes down, and I realise that I’ll have to be home soon, so I pack up my things and start the walk home.

As I’m walking, I see all the banners that surround our blank and miserable city. They all bear the words “Loyalty or Death Penalty, No exceptions” The worst part about those signs are the way they’re presented. It’s as if the sentences are telling you that you’ve won the lottery. To my right, I see the usual fistfight between a city guard and a citizen. What an idiot. The citizen, I mean. He knows that as soon as the guard can, he’ll kill him. “Just keep walking,” I tell myself as I pull my eyes away from the fight. I hear a gunshot. The citizen is dead. “Hey girl!” I hear the guard yell. I look at my watch. It’s 7:01pm.

I turn around to see the guard is power-walking towards me. I hear myself screaming, “I’m sorry, I’m on my way home now” I yell the phrase over and over, begging for mercy. “No Exceptions!” He yells as he pulls out his gun. He aims it in my direction. I begin to run. I’m definitely going to die now. Behind me, the guard is yelling into a speaker, “We got a runner on Main street” This is the start, of how it all ends. The next thing I hear is the low rumble of ten trucks surrounding me. They’re the next thing I can see as well. Lucky I’m fast. I duck under one of them and run down an alley. I keep running, feeling the cold wind against my face and a sharp pain in my chest. I come to a dead end.

As I’m catching my breath, I see my best friend Domonik walking towards me. They used to shout my name, now they whisper it. What’s he doing here? He’s wearing a guard’s uniform, white plastic,  ‘bulletproof’ they say, acting as armour and a black unitard underneath. He’s also carrying a gun. When he sees me, I see his stern facial expression change into an awestruck one. “Domonik,” I say breathily “Domonik please”. He stares at me for a while. He shakes his head and swallows slowly “No exceptions” he says. His voice is shaky, like something is inside his throat squeezing his voice box. “Domonik”, I say again, more clearly this time. “You don’t have to do this”. He is moving towards me. “Remember that time in 4th grade?” Maybe I can make him feel guilty enough that he’ll spare me “It was Valentine's day, and we made cards for each other” He stops “They said ‘You’re my best friend’, remember that Dom?” He laughs but restrains himself. “Or when you came to my house in 3rd grade, we just played games all day” His face looks as though he is in deep thought, but I know that it’s the face he makes when he tries to hide emotion. Specifically, sadness. “We made a promise that day” “We promised we would never hurt each other” he finishes.
“You really don’t have to do this.” I say “Yes I do,” he says quickly. “I hate them, you know I do, but I work for them now, I don’t have a choice.” He’s sobbing now “I don’t want to kill you, Casey. You’re my best friend, but-” The rest of the guards are gathered around us now, chanting “Kill the girl!” I’m speeding up. Domonik raises his gun to my head. And this is the red, orange, yellow flicker beat.  “There are no exceptions” He pulls the trigger.

I hope you enjoyed Best Friends No Excpetions. If you are a new viewer seeing this post, here's a link to my first post on this blog telling you about what it is -> How it works!